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Training on the Supply Chain Management Framework 

Tailored programs can be developed to meet your organization’s specific needs. They can be held at the site of your choosing or be delivered on-line and can range from one-day briefings to week-long programs on the entire framework or on individual processes of interest. Additional relevance can be brought to the material by incorporating exercises that use your firm’s data. Training on the supply chain management framework has been delivered through university and corporate programs on five continents. For more information on customizing a program, please email [email protected]

Cross-Functional Assessments of Supply Chain Management Processes

We have developed assessment tools that can be used to benchmark an organization’s practices with best practices and prioritize the identified improvement opportunities. Prior to using the assessment tool, we conduct a conference call with your team to familiarize them with the process being assessed and the assessment tool. Then, we attend and facilitate the consensus-building session. Based on the discussion of the consensus-building meeting, we help you develop a plan-for-action. The consensus-building meeting and the session for developing the action plan take a full day. Finally, we provide you with a summary report which incorporates experience with other companies, identifies the biggest improvement opportunities, and offers guidance for implementation. Assessments have been conducted for companies such as: Callaway Golf, Cargill Inc., The Coca Company, Colgate Palmolive, Bob Evans Farms, Givaudan, Hallmark, Hewlett-Packard, International Paper, Shell, Sika Argentina and TaylorMade Golf Company.

If you would like more information about cross-functional assessments of the supply chain management processes, please email [email protected]

Process Implementation 

For information regarding support to implement one or more of the supply chain management processes, email [email protected]

Training on The Partnership Model and/or The Collaboration Framework

For more information on courses designed to prepare you to use the Partnership Model and/or The Collaboration Framework please email [email protected] 

Facilitation of Partnership Meetings 

In a day-and-a-half partnership meeting, a cross-functional management team from each company works separately with a facilitator to identify their firm’s drivers for the partnership. After each side has agreed on the drivers for their organization, the groups come together and present their drivers to the other side in order to develop joint goals for the relationship. The next step is to identify the appropriate type of partnership by considering the strength of the drivers and how well the two organizations mesh. The output of the day-and-a-half meeting is a strategy and an action plan for managing the relationship and achieving each organization’s drivers. 

We have conducted more than 100 partnership meetings with major corporations on five continents. Partnership meetings have been conducted for complex relationships such as the one between Cargill Incorporated and The Coca-Cola Company and for less complex relationships like the one between Wendy’s and Tyson which was the basis for a 2004 article in Harvard Business Review. For more information or to discuss arrangements for a Partnership Meeting email Dr. Lambert at [email protected]

Facilitation of Collaboration Meetings

For companies that don’t have one and one-half days to spare, we have developed a shortened version of the model called The Collaboration Framework. The Collaboration Framework is used in a one-day meeting, where the two parties consider the key drivers for their relationship. The same driver categories are used but this time participants identify performance goals for each driver and assign each driver a priority (critical, very important and important). Then, the teams decide what they can accept as joint goals and develop a plan for implementation. A Collaboration Meeting provides a structure for developing product and service agreements including an 18-24 month plan for relationships with key customers and suppliers. For more information see this Supply Chain Quarterly article. 

Like the Partnership Model, The Collaboration Framework is about developing joint goals for the relationship that are negotiated, transparent and accountable. If you get it right, value is co-created and both sides win. For more information about facilitation services please email [email protected]